


past and pending

by Contentious



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Episode IX..?, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), M/M, Multi, Post-TLJ, TLJ Spoilers, What Comes Next
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-20 17:19:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13151346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Contentious/pseuds/Contentious
Summary: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...STAR  WARSpast and pendingSupremacy. The First Order, under the tumultuousleadership of Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, has controlof the galaxy, forcing those who would oppose theminto hiding.Now rebels against the ruling power in the galaxy, theResistance seeks out new allies to help them put anend to the oppressive First Order and restore the fallenRepublic.But dissent brews within the First Order itself as theKnights of Ren challenge the rule of The SupremeLeader, igniting a war of succession bringing chaosto all corners of the galaxy. Desperate to remain incontrol of the First Order, Kylo Ren strikes out at arival's power base on the planet Naboo...





	past and pending

-

The _Supremacy_ drifts through space, blotting out the sea of stars in the Naboo System. Exterior panels groan and spark slightly, evidence of the recent repairs to the flagship. Explosions erupt against the shields, sending vibrations through the whole of the ship. There is chaos on the bridge as General Hux shouts his orders, snarling in irritation at every passing rumble of the ship.

"Sir, they're scrambling fleet identifications. We don't know who's an enemy and who isn't." Comes the panicked voice of an officer at a nearby station.

Order. They were meant to bring _order_.

"Then concentrate all fire on those dropships. _Do not let them board!_ " Hux shouts, pointing out the observation window toward the transports flying toward their closed hangar doors.

Nemora Ren's forces continue to assault the shields from their dreadnaught. Not even a third the size of the Supremacy, its guns would take literal standard days to penetrate the shields, but still they seem intent on keeping the pressure on. In the space between, TIE-fighters dip and dodge around one-another in what seems mostly like mass confusion. A fighter explodes in a shower of debris that spins toward one of the transports, sending it careening off course into another of the ships. Whose fighter it was doesn't matter as the enemy's dropships collide.

-

The crackling of fire echoes through the room, flames raging up the banners that hang throughout the chamber. The violent sputtering of Kylo Ren's templar blade clashes with the gentle hum of Nemora Ren's saber staff as they stand opposite to each other, embers dancing through the air around them. It's a silent stand-off, on the precipice of erupting into chaos.

In a burst of fury and action, Kylo makes the first move. Nemora is swift to follow and their blades spark against each other in the center of the room. Nemora's face remains hidden behind the mask she was given upon joining the Knights of Ren, but Kylo's is the picture of rage, adrenaline and basking in the power that courses through him. His raw strength overpowers hers and she can see the satisfaction creeping across his features as her knees begin to buckle.

She spins out from the blade lock, his weight and force propelling him off-balance as she does. As Nemora spins, she sweeps out her blade at his feet. He's barely able to reach out and push himself up with the Force, evading the humming blade and spinning round to right himself. His saber screeches against the tile floor. He has always been wild, she knows, never able to hone his rage into a razor's edge. He is all unstable, raw power; a brutal force. Nemora, on the other hand, is a precise weapon. Light of foot and keen of sense, she is both clever in battle and clever enough to avoid the battle. To strike from the shadow or through the mind.

A wild thing such as Ben Solo had no right to claim the throne.

As if sensing the thought (perhaps he did), Kylo strikes out once more. A battle rages outside, his forces and hers dancing through the sky above Theed. The ground shudders beneath their feet, rocked by turret fire and TIE-fighters crashing into the city. Their blades cross again, and again, and Nemora dances while Kylo assaults. She can feel his mounting fury, his frustration, boiling over as he strikes more and more recklessly, leaving himself open to attacks.

He roars in pain as finally she scores a blow, dragging her blade across his side. But it seems that she miscalculated, if only slightly. His form does not falter as he takes the strike to his side, and his own blade sweeps upward across her chest. She pulls back, but not enough and pain sears through her body. They both stagger back then, Kylo clutching his side and she pulling on the Force to press against her wound, knit flesh together.

She feels his rage swell, feels his pain and relishes in it.

"Reckless." She hisses, the first word to pass between them.

" _Enough of this._ " He spits back and he reaches out toward her, finger splayed then curling in as he pulls on the threads of the Force.

All at once Nemora feels the Force press in on her. Instinctively she shoves back as a panic begins to creep up her spine. It fades as she gains purchase, pushing against the pressure around her body, holding steady against it. He will not find her a fragile victim. Slowly a grin comes to her face, and she is almost sad that he can't see it.

"Arrogant!" She laughs and with it pushes with all of her might, expecting his grip to crumble beneath her might.

In a flash it feels as though her body is being crushed within. The force she projects outward strikes against an immovable wall and radiates back through her own body, sending dizzying pain throught her. For a moment, her mind can't focus, can't see anything but white-hot agony as bones fracture and muscles tear under her skin. A cry escapes her lips, and the pressure around her forces her to her knees. She looks up and sees Kylo, blurry to her vision, his features unchanged, and feels the power pouring outward from him. She feels blood dribbling from her ears and tastes it on her tongue as realization dawns on her.

She's going to-

Kylo's hand clenches into a fist and the Force swells to his command. Nemora Ren's body crumples as her heart is crushed in her chest. His breathing is labored, pain throbbing in his side as his hand slowly lowers. He hears his heart hammering in his ears above the sound of the crackling fire and sparking wires.

A great well of fury rises within him as he feels... _nothing_. The satisfaction he expected to feel isn't there and instead there is an empty chasm, a sickening twist in his gut. _Pity_. His lips twitch into a snarl and in his wrath he extends his hand again, reaching out to lift the broken body of Nemora Ren from the well of blood on the floor. It's with a sickening crack that the corpse slams into the wall, her saber-staff flying from her limp hand, skittering across the floor. Breaths heavy and quick in his outburst, he reaches down for it, summoning the hilt to his hand.

There's a flash in his mind. _Rey_. Her staff twirls around her artfully, and for a moment Ben closes his eyes, savoring the image of her standing on a precipice, the picture of elegance and barely restrained power... With a growl he forces the image away, gripping the saber-staff hilt so tightly as if to crush it-

"You're hurt."

He hadn't noticed the sound of the raging battle fading away as he indulged in his moment of weakness, hadn't noticed her reach across the spaces between them, as if summoned by the thought of her.

He knows that isn't true. If it were, he would find her nearly every hour of every day.

It takes everything he has to resist turning to face her, to see her. The hilt sits limply in his hand and he fixes his eyes on it. He forces himself to focus on his pain, to focus on the here the now. _She_ shut him out. _She_ rejected him. _She_ is the one who turned her back. Ben feels something clawing at his throat, hissing at him from the broken corpse across the room. _Shame_. He shuts his mind to the feeling of her hand on his shoulder, pulling at him to turn around, and with all his might and the Force at his back he screams:

" _Out!_ "

He's pulled to turn around and his eyes fix on the empty chamber. The sounds of battle return with a vengeance, the ground shaking with the force of some explosion ringing through the city. Theed is on fire. Supreme Leader Kylo Ren is victorious.

Never has he felt more hollow.

-

She had felt his pain.

Weeks quickly bled into months following the decimation of the Resistance. Rey had shut him out, had found strength to cut their connection as she looked down on him past the _Falcon_ 's loading ramp. For these months she had felt nothing through their bond, hadn't allowed herself to as the Resistance desperately clung to life and the First Order erupted into a chaos that rippled across the galaxy.

The sky was afire above her and the ground rumbled beneath her feet as Rey directed dozens of panicked civilians into the bunker on the outskirts of Theed. Poe was just behind her, helping them down the steps. The ground quaked and explosions rang through the air and all the Resistance could do is try to minimize casualties. From a force great enough to stand against the First Order, strike down their superweapon and tear apart a dreadnaught... to barely effective damage control doing everything they can to save as many lives as can be saved by so few.

As terrified people raced by her, Rey couldn't help but look upon the city in despair. Theed may never recover from this. From the petty power struggle within the First Order. She felt a swell of anger that she knows she should not let herself feel, but can't help. In that moment, as the screams of fear and pain echo in the air, she felt her breath leave her all at once as the bond that tethers her to Ben Solo flared open.

Pain rushes up her side and Rey staggers back, barely catching herself on a broken piece of wall behind her. Her hand flies to her side, clutching at nothing, and her head turns around, searching for the source of her agony. Everything slows down. Poe seeing her stagger, rushing to her side, his face a mask of concern. The voices fade out, the fiery swell of darkness that she knows accompanies the presence of Kylo Ren within her thoughts taking over everything. She spins around, away from Poe's steadying grasp and she _sees him_.

Amid the fleeing civilians, standing solitary in the street, he's there. She looks down at her side, pulling her hand away and she can feel it now. The pain flaring across the bond, not from her, from him. Her eyes settle on him again.  Every instinct, every angry, disappointed, terrified part of her that automatically wants to act to force him out, again, to throw up her walls and never let him in are _drowned_ by a more overwhelming sense of _rightness_.

She'd forgotten how it felt. Sharing a moment in time, across the stars, in the spaces between.  She'd made herself forget.

She pulls away from Poe's hands and they let her go as she feels worry and sympathy swell within her, feeling the searing pain of the blade that had cut into him.

_"You're hurt."_

She feels him react, feels a thousand racing emotions slam into her and she reaches out, a fear creeping up her spine. _No, don't leave._ She touches his shoulder and it's as if everything she feels from him _amplifies_ and she nearly buckles under the weight of it. His _everything_ presses against her and she gasps, feeling the force dragging her away as she tugs, pulling him to turn, to face her, to see her, to see _him_.

Sound comes crashing back. Screams, cracking stone, groaning metal, the firefight above and-

"Rey!"

She finds herself turned around, her eyes forcibly torn from the spot of earth where Ben just stood and into the line of Poe's confused and worried gaze.

She  _feels_ him. He's _here_. She tilts her head back away from Poe's concerned voice, eyes fixing on the spires of the palace. _There_. She feels the pull, feels something screaming at her to cross that distance... Again, though, her gaze is torn, now by a hand on her cheek, gentle but firm. She's looking at Poe again, his voice sweet, calling her back.

"Rey, hey-" her eyes focus on him and he smiles, bright and wonderful and relieved. "There she is. Hey, we're gonna be fine. We're all gonna be fine." The ground shakes with his lie. He thinks she's shell-shocked, Rey realizes. "Come on. Inside, let's go." His hand pulls away from her face and takes her hand instead. "You good, you with me?"

She feels him, still. Feels the call. Rey grits her teeth. He made his choice, and she hers. Without a backward glance, she closes her hand around Poe's, clamping down on the connection, shutting out that _sense_ , that _knowing_ of him.  Her walls come back up and she knows where she's supposed to be.

"Yeah-" she finally breathes out, the world still spinning slightly. "I'm with you."

Every step away from him feels like it weighs more and more.

**Author's Note:**

> could be a one-shot, could be an intro. i'll decide in the morning.


End file.
